Halo: Crimson
by Cybermat47
Summary: This is the story of one SPARTAN-IV Fireteam during the second battle of Requiem, and the challenges they face as they fight against the Storm Covenant and Prometheans. But can they win when Earth itself is invaded by the Prometheans? A sequel of sorts to A Fistful of Arrows. Inspired by the work of Eric Nylund. Don't forget to review!
1. SPARTAN down

_**Author's Note: The 4 SPARTANS of CRIMSON here are named after myself and 3 of my closest friends.**_

* * *

_Forerunner Shield World 'Requiem', 0250 hours, 26/2/2558_

"CRIMSON, you ready?" "SPARTAN M37 here, Commander Palmer, we're ready for insertion".

The D79 Pelican landed on the grassy plateau, and the four SPARTANs of fireteam CRIMSON jumped out. Their leader, Bryn Watkins, tag M37, looked at his team sniper. "Will, get up on that ledge, I need sniper support." "Yes sir!"

Watkins was uneasy. Their mission here was to eliminate Fek Dumonai, a Sangheili Zealot, and one of the Storm Covenant's most important leaders. They knew he was in the Forerunner structure just ahead, but it was a big structure, and none of them had had the time to get the proper equipment. "Sir!" Will put his eye to the scope. He could see a Sangheili in red Zealot armour. "I can see him!" Watkins didn't hesitate. "Take the shot!" Will fired, just as a Promethean Knight appeared behind him and sliced his head off. Instantly, Sam, the close quarters expert, squeezed the trigger of his shotgun twice, and the Knight disintergrated. "Quick, get the body!" yelled Watkins. Already Dumonai's guards were advancing in their position, and Promethean Crawlers were surging down anearby cliff face. Sam and Callan, the tech expert, grabbed Will's body. Watkins, disgusted, picked up his head. Commander Palmer was asking what had happened. Watkins replied. "Spartan down."

_UNSC INF-101 'Infinity', in orbit over Forerunner Shield World 'Requiem', 0320 Hours._

Captain Thomas Lasky walked onto the command deck of _UNSC Infinity._ To his surprise, Commander Sarah Palmer was there, waiting for him. "Sarah? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be on S-deck?" She walked over to him. "I was just wondering if the _Aladdin_ might be able to make a slight detour while she's back at Earth picking up those xenoarchaeologists." "Why?" "CRIMSON's sniper was KIA today. CRIMSON's already the smallest fireteam on _Infinity, _and they need a sniper to function properly." Lasky considered. "Fine, I'll see if she can pick up a SPARTAN from the training facility. And if they can get the best sniper they've got, I'll make sure they will."_  
_


	2. Training Facility

_UNSC Training Facility S-1482, Location Classified, Earth, 1354 hours, 3/3/2558_

The Captain of the _Aladdin _was nervous. He'd picked up the xenoarchaelologists, why did he have to pick up one of these freaks as well? Even more unsettling was the man opposite him. He seemed to be in his late 50's, wrinkled face, but his arms and legs looked like solid muscle."So you're saying that you want to take one of the SPARTAN's here, _out of training, _ship them to out of this Galaxy, and send them to fight?" The captain opened his mouth to speak, but the man beat him to it. "Relax, they're near graduation day, and most of them have already been...augmented." He keyed the intercom. "SPARTAN Greene, please report to my office, SPARTAN Greene". He looked up at the captain. "Her name's Alice Greene, best Sniper of her class. She was one of the first to be augmented. Several minutes later, a young woman walked in. She stood taller than both men in the room, due to her augmentations, and had close cropped brown hair. "You wanted to see me sir?" "Yes, this is Captain Mancuso, he'll be taking you to your first deployment. You've been activated." She looked surprised - happily so. She saluted. "Thank you, sir!" "Go and pack your things, you leave in an hour."


	3. From warrior to tour guide

_Hangar bay 3, UNSC INF-101 'Infinity' in orbit over Requiem, 1200 hours, 10/3/2558_

Watkins looked on as the _Aladdin _made it's final approach. Out of his armour, he looked like some other SPARTANs. His skin was unusually pale, from the long deployments against innsurectionists on Mars. His hair had been shaved and was only beginning to grow back. The _Aladdin _finally landed, and several scientists walked of the ramp, followed by a female SPARTAN. She walked over to him. Watkins was surprised. He hadn't been expecting a _Woman_. She snapped a salute. "Warrant Officer Alice Greene reporting for duty, sir!" He returned the salute. "At ease. Follow me, Warrant Officer." He walked off, with her quickly catching up. "Where are we going sir?" "Firing range."

_Simulated Firing Range, UNSC INF-101 'Infinity', 1220 Hours, 10/3/255_

Watkins handed Greene a sniper rifle. "Try and hit those four targets over there", he said, pointing at the targets furthest away. She put her eye up to the scope, took a breath, and quickly fired the entire magazine into the targets. Watkins went over to the control panel. It was registering critical hits on all targets. He was amazed. She must have extraordinary reflexes and eyesight to pull that off. "Impressive work, Warrant Officer, I think you may have just set a new record!"

_S-deck, UNSC INF-101 'Infinity', 1240 Hours, 10/3/2558_

__Watkins led Greene through the door. "This is S-deck" he said, turning to her. "This is where everything SPARTAN related happens, from briefing to the armour requisition to medical checks." He smiled. "The only thing more exciting than this is the holo-deck. Commander Palmer wants us up against fireteam MAJESTIC tommorrow. I think that with you, we'll be able to show them who the best fireteam on the ship is!"

_Crew quarters assigned to fireteam CRIMSON, UNSC INF-101 'Infinity' 2100 hours, 10/3/2558_

__Greene collapsed into her bed. It had been a tiring day. Lieutenant Watkins had introduced her to the two other team members, and they'd all been very nice to her. She tried to get some sleep. It sounded like it was going to be a busy day tommorow.


	4. War Games

_Crew quarters assigned to fireteam CRIMSON, UNSC INF-101 'Infinity', 0600 hours, 11/3/2558_

"Alright, get up you lot!" Ordered Watkins, rousing everyone from their sleep. "We've got a War Games match against MAJESTIC in an hour, get ready!"

_Holo-deck, UNSC INF-101 'Infinity', 0903 hours, 11/3/2558_

Watkins led CRIMSON onto the holo-deck, where Commander Palmer and fireteam MAJESTIC were already waiting. "Glad to see you finally showed up" growled Paul DeMarco, MAJESTIC's leader. "Can it DeMarco, you were _seven _minutes late last week" retorted the Commander. She turned to CRIMSON. "It's just straight up deathmatch today. Get ready." She walked off, and the two teams went to their separate loadout areas. When CRIMSON arrived at theirs, Watkins turned to his team. "It's Complex today. Sam, get a shottie, Callan get a BR, and Alice, get a Sniper Rifle." Alice blinked. Had he just called her by her first name? He picked up a DMR. "Move!"

Several minutes later, CRIMSON walked out to find that the harsh metal of the holo-deck had been replaced by a scientific complex located on Requiem. Watkins turned to his team. "Sam, get in that building, Callan, go with him." They nodded and ran off. "Alice, get on that rooftop and set up." "What about you, sir?" Asked Alice. I'm going to go down there, try and lure some of them out for you." Suddenly their helmet comms opened. "This is Sam, sir. We got two of them, Hoya and DeMarco." Watkins replied. "Good job Sam." He turned to Alice. "Quick, get up there!" He ran off, leaving Alice to set up. She had just put her eye to the scope when she saw a SPARTAN. She didn't hesitate, and a second later, SPARTAN Grant was on the ground with TTR in her face. Watkins had seen it all. "Good jo-" he squeezed off five shots at a SPARTAN, knocking them out. A moment later, a sniper round hit his head, and he fell unconscious. Alice had seen the muzzle flash, though, and fired twice at it. A second later, an artificial voice announced "MAJESTIC eliminated. Excercise finished."

_Crew quarters assigned to fireteam CRIMSON, UNSC INF-101 'Infinity', 2100 hours, 11/3/2558_

__All of CRIMSON was sitting on their bunks, celebrating their victory. They had all bought a round of drinks from the ship's bar, except Alice, who got up to get one. Watkins looked at her like she was some human/covenant hybrid. "What are you doing!?" She looked a little hurt. "I'm getting us some more drinks." "No you're not, you won us that exercise!" He held out his hand. "Welcome to CRIMSON, SPARTAN!"


	5. First Op

_S-deck, UNSC INF-101 'Infinity', 0500 hours, 12/3/2558_

CRIMSON stood to attention, bleary eyed after being woken up several minutes earlier. The team's handler, SPARTAN Jared Miller, returned their salute. "Erm, at ease SPARTANs." He moved to a holo-table. "Air reconaissance has found a Covenant ammunition dump here." A rocky crevice in a mountain, located in a large desert was highlighted. "There are considerable defences based around this mountain. At least 20 Shade turrets, and large amounts of Covenant infantry. You will use stealth to infiltrate, and your team sniper will provide overwatch from here." A nearby, smaller mountain was highlighted. "Any questions? Then get ready, SPARTANs." The team moved out to their armour bays. Then, encased in their MJOLNIR GEN-2 armour, they moved to the loadout section. Watkins, Sam and Callan each chose the Active Camo ability, while Alice chose an autoturret. Watkins picked up a BR, as did Callan, while Sam, as usual, chose a shotgun. Alice shouldered a Sniper Rifle equipped with a silencer. CRIMSON boarded their D79, and were flown down to Requiem.

_Location REQ-568 A, Forerunner Shield World 'Requiem' 0700 hours, 12/3/2558_

Watkins surveyed the Covenant position. They had plenty of heavy guns, and hundreds of Grunts. They were poor odds. He almost felt sorry for them. "_Lieutenant, I'm in position." _"Copy that, Alice. And call me Bryn." 250 metres away, Alice was highly surprised by Bryn's deviancy from military protocol. Then, she just shrugged it off. CRIMSON didn't seem like a normal military unit most of the time.

Bryn, Sam and Callan activated active camo, and slipped behind the rows of Shade turrets. An Elite nearby must have seen them, though, as he was reaching for his Storm Rifle when a 7.62 millimetre round ripped through his skull. Thankfully, the Elite had been enjoying some shade, so his death went unnoticed. Thankfully, no more Covenant noticed them. Callan set the charges on a crate of Fuel Rod ammo and retreated with Sam and Bryn to a safe distance, from which he detonated the charges. A massive purple and green explosion swept out of the crevice, needler rounds detonating and ripping Covenat soldiers to shreds.

There were no survivors.

Bryn, Sam and Callan started hiking up the smaller mountain to Alice's position. Bryn could see her, and she stood upand waved to them, just as a Sangheili Zealot deactivated it's active camo and knocked her to the ground. The blow broke her arm, and it raised it's Needler, but Alice managed to get two shots off at it, deactivating it's shields. The Zealot reeled under the shots, but it's rounds hit her leg, and she screamed in pain. Bryn had been running towards the two, and was finally in range too snap off a three-round burst, which ripped through the Zealot's cranium. Bryn ran and knelt by Alice. She was alive, but unconscious from blood loss and shock. Bryn yelled into his radio. "Commander Palmer! I need medical evac NOW! SPARTAN Greene is seriously wounded, and she isn't going to survive much longer!"


	6. Infirmary

_Infirmary, UNSC INF-101 'Infinity' 0730 hours, 12/3/2558_

Doctor Hartmann was having a difficult day. First he'd had to deal with a Marine and an ODST who had been involved in a brawl, treating their injuries while trying to stop them from ripping each other apart, and now a SPARTAN who had sustained such serious injuries that she had been rushed up to the _Infinity _so fast that the Pelican carrying her had blown out an engine! Her arm was broken, and several needler rounds had exploded in her leg. If not for her augmentations, she would have been crippled for life. He grimaced behind his face mask. This wasn't going to be easy...

_1500 hours_

As soon as Bryn returned to the _Infinity, _he rushed to the infirmary. Pausing only to stare at two bruised men, strapped down and staring at each other with pure hatred, he rushed over to Alice, who was unconcious. Dr. Hartmann was waiting. He turned to Bryn. "Are you religous?" Bryn was surprised by the question. "I'm Christian. What's it to you?" the doctor sighed. "Well, you'd better pray hard to your God. She's lost a lot of blood, and when those needler rounds exploded, they exposed some bone. Her arm will take a month to heal, two weeks if we help it along. Her leg'll take three weeks once we've given her a skin graft, and in that time she'll have to move it to make sure it's fully functional." Bryn put his hand on the doctor's shoulder. "Do everything you can, doctor."


	7. Bad News

_S-deck, UNSC INF-101 'Infinity', 1540 hours, 12/3/2558_

Bryn led the remainder of his team into their debriefing. Miller was waiting for them. "There you are CRIMSON. How's SPARTAN Greene?" Bryn appreciated Miller's concern. "She might just pull through." Miller nodded. "That's good to hear. You might also be pleased to hear that when that ammo dump exploded, you reduced the Covenant's ammo stocks by 1/20th. Also, we've identified the Zealot that attacked SPARTAN Greene. Turns out that he was fairly important. Good job CRIMSON. Now get to your armour and medical checkups. Dismissed."

_Infirmary, UNSC INF-101 'Infinity' 1634 Hours, 12/3/2558_

Alice woke up. She looked around, then winced as the pain hit her arm and leg. She looked up as Bryn walked in. He walked over to her. "You feeling alright?" "My arm and leg hurt like hell, but I'm ready to get back to work." She tried to get up, but fell back groaning in pain. "Alice, I'm not sure how to tell you this, but you're going to have to stay in the infirmary for three _weeks. _She stared at him. "Wha - no, I can't just _leave _you out there while I lie in a comfy bed!" Bryn looked at her sadly. "I'm sorry, but it's not up to you."

_2100 hours_

Alice tried to get some sleep, but the pain in her limbs was too great. She looked at the medical locker, where the pain killers were kept. All the medical staff were off duty, but she had memorized the code, just in case of a situation like this. _"I can get there. I_ know _I can," _she thought. She got up, wincing with pain. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally reached it, and punched in the code.

It didn't work.

She groaned. They must have changed the codes. She walked for another eternity back to her bed, and tried to get some sleep while the pain gnawed away at her.


	8. Long road to recovery

_Infirmary, UNSC INF-101 'Infinity', 0135 hours, 13/3/2558_

Alice finally fell asleep.

A second later, Dr. Hartmann woke her up. "Eurgh, what is it?" The doctor was taken aback. "If you want to make sure your leg's going to get better, you're going to have to exercise it regularly. Get out of bed, please." Alice complied, wincing with pain. Her wounds had been dressed, but they still hurt like hell. The doctor led her over to a treadmill. "Get on it, please." Alice stepped on it. Dr. Hartmann lent over, and put the treadmill on setting No. 1. "We'll go up a level each couple of days." Alice, now painfully walking on the treadmill, looked back at him. "How long do you want me on here for?" He considered. "Erm, about...an hour? Yes, an hour will do." With that, he walked out, leaving Alice to walk while hurting like hell for an hour.

_0220 hours_

Alice, now feeling even worse, heard footsteps behind her. Hoping that her hour was up, she looked back to see, not the doctor, but Bryn. "Si - Bryn, what are you doing here so early?" "I just decided to check up on you. How are you feeling?" "Like hell, which seems to be the norm for me these days." Bryn nodded emphatically. "Oh, I, er, got you a bit of a...erm, gift." It was a bar of chocolate. "I didn't like the idea of one of my soldiers stuck with hospital food for three weeks." Alice picked up the chocolate. "Thanks!" She looked at him. Was he..._blushing? _"Anyway," he said, excusing himself. "I'm needed elsewhere. See you later."

_0239 hours_

Alice _finally _stepped off the treadmill. Dr. Hartmann looked at her. "Are you feeling any better?" She shot him a withering glare. "Yeah, I just walked for an hour on a seriously wounded leg. I feel super."


	9. Remembering Reach

_Infirmary, UNSC INF-101 'Infinity' 1234 hours, 13/3/2558_

Bryn walked into the infirmary, and walked over to Alice. "You feeling any better?" Alice was in a bad mood. 'Does it look like I do!? Just get lost, you have no idea what I'm going through!" Bryn was taken aback. "Well, actually I do. Though it was a bit of a blessing back then, 'cos I thought I was going to die." Alice looked at him. "What d'you mean?" Bryn sat down, and started talking. "Technically, I'm not allowed to tell you this, but..."

_Aszod, Planet Reach, 2005 hours, 30/8/2552_

Bryn, or NOBLE 6 as he had been known as for the last month, groaned as he saw the army of Elites charging at him. _"Oh well, I had a good run" _he thought, tearing off his helmet. An Elite Ultra charged at him, but was cut down by MA37 fire, just as a Ranger tried to stab him, but Bryn knocked him off, and finished him with a headshot from his M6G. More and more Elites charged at him, and an Elite Zealot stabbed him. _"If I'm going down, then you are too!" _He drew his combat knife, and stuck it into the Zealot's neck. The surrounding Elites moved in on him, but were cut down by sniper fire. _"Where the hell did that come from!?" _His questions were answered when a woman, holding a SRS99 rifle, wearing a Recon helmet like his own, and with an ONI logo on her chest stood over him. "Can you stand?", she asked. "Yeah." Bryn stood, clutching his chest. He could now see the woman's name, written on the armour: _V. Dare._ She got a canister of biofoam, and pumped it into him. "That should hold you together for long enough." With Dare supporting him, they walked over to a nearby D77. "Where are we going?" he asked. Dare looked at him. "I'll tell you when we get there." Bryn was worried. "What makes you think that this Pelican can get past the covvie fleet?" "The covvies are too busylooking for something around CASTLE base." She replied. "They won't bother with the Pelican."

_UNSC 'Wolf', ONI Prowler in Reach space, 2050 hours, 30/8/2552_

The Pelican had finally docked with a Prowler, and Bryn was rushed to the infirmary. The prowler's commanding officer came to see him. Bryn managed a salute, which the captain returned. "Sir, why exactly did you save me?" "We had orders from ONI to save any valuable resource from Reach. CASTLE was to hot, so our field team was lucky to find you. Try to get some rest now, SPARTAN." The captain left. A minute later, the biofoam expired, and Bryn was left sobbing with pain.


	10. Second Op

_Infirmary, UNSC INF-101 Infinity, 1237 hours, 13/3/2558_

Alice looked at Bryn as he finished his story. "Crap...I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were a III...or that you were on Reach." He looked back at her. "It's fine. I didn't exactly advertise those facts." He got up. "Anyway, Alice, try to get some rest. I'll see you tomorrow."

_Crew quarters assigned to fireteam CRIMSON, UNSC INF-101, 1241 hours, 13/3/2558 _

Callan looked up as Bryn entered. "Ah, hey Bryn. How's Alice going?" "She's fine." Sam walked in. 'Hey." Bryn turned around. "Hey. Where've you been?" Sam looked at him with mock horror. "Rascist!" Bryn sighed. "Sam, I've told you to stop doing that. It's not funny in the slightest. Where were you?" Sam sighed. "I've been organizing a free-for-all war game for us. Wanna come?" Bryn considered. "Yeah, alright. Let's go!"

_Infirmary, UNSC INF-101 'Infinity', 1345 hours, 20/3/2558_

It was a week after Alice had started the recovery, and she was definitely feeling better. Dr. Hartmann had told her that if she kept going like this, she would have adequate muscle in her leg to allow her to function efficiently in combat. She was lying in her bed when Bryn walked in. "Hey Bryn." He looked down at her. "Hey. How's it going?" She smiled slightly. "My leg still hurts like hell, but my arm feels way better. The cast's coming off next week." Bryn looked pleased. "That's great! Ive got to get going now, the briefing for the next op is in a few minutes."

_S-deck, UNSC INF-101 'Infinity' 1400 hours, 20/3/2558_

SPARTAN Miller looked up as CRIMSON entered the briefing. _"It's lucky that this is a close-range mission" _he thought. "OK CRIMSON, we've located what appears to be a large transit system network here," a large metal cavern located in a jungle was highlighted. "Infinity Science wants to check it out, but Commander Palmer doesn't think it's safe. She wants you to go and check it out. Now get to your stations." The SPARTANs moved out to the armour bays. Bryn stepped into his, and was sheathed in his RECRUIT/HAZOP class armour. They then moved into the armoury. Bryn chose an MA5D and Promethean vision, with a captured Boltshot as his sidearm. The rest of CRIMSON followed his lead, except for Sam, who chose his usual shotgun. They then moved out to their D79.

_Location REQ-274 A, 1700 hours, 20/3/2558_

CRIMSON moved silently into the cavern. "Stop," ordered Bryn. "Any movement?" Both other SPARTANs answered negative. "OK, activate the PV." All the SPARTANs activated their Promethean vision. It showed a room to their right with hundreds of slipspace terminals, but no enemy contacts. "OK," Bryn ordered, "let's get in there." they moved into the room. Still no contacts. He was about to open comms to Commander Palmer when one of the terminals activated, and out of it came ten Promethean Knights. "GET TO COVER!" yelled Bryn.

Soon, the three SPARTANs were behind cover, as the Knights fired Suppressors, Scattershots and even an Incineration Cannon at them. One teleported right in front of them, but was blown apart by Sam's shotgun. Bryn opened comms to he rest of his team. "OK, we'll use our PV together, we'll target the closest Knight, and we'll all fire at him all at once. Ready?" "Ready", answered Sam and Callan. The three SPARTAN's all activated their PV. There was a Knight just around the corner. "FIRE!" The Knight was blown apart by shotgun shells and MA5D rounds.

8 left.

Suddenly, one teleported directly in front of Bryn. It's sword arm flew toward his head, but he ducked, drew his boltshot, and blew it right to hell.

Again, the squad activated their PV. There were another two Knights rounding the corner. And, like their comrades, they were blown apart.

Then, the remaining five teleported behind them. Sam ran forward, destroyed one with his Shotgun, and ripped the sword arm off another and stabbed it with the arm. Another was destroyed by concentrated MA5D fire from Bryn and Callan. The other two were close together keeping the SPARTANs at bay with their fire. They started to teleport to get away, but Bryn lifted a fallen Incineration Cannon and blew them up. He opened comms to Commander Palmer. "Commander, this is CRIMSON. The area is clear...for now."


	11. An old friend

_S-deck, UNSC INF-101 'Infinity', 2100 hours, 20/3/2558_

CRIMSON entered the de-briefing, where Miller was waiting. "Well, CRIMSON, that cavern is being studied by science as we speak. Due to the danger of, well, anything coming through a portal there, Commander Palmer's deployed SHADOW and WOLF teams there, until science is through with the place. Any questions? No? Then you're dismissed."

_Infirmary, UNSC INF-101 'Infinity', 0145 hours, 27/3/2558_

Alice was once again on the treadmill, but this time on setting No.14. She looked behind her as Bryn walked in. "Morning!" Bryn looked at her, smiling. "Someone's feeling better!" Alice smiled back. "Yeah, my cast just came off, and I can actually walk for a while." "That's good to hear!" He looked up at a clock. "Listen, I gotta go, there's a War Game on in 30 minutes, and we're going to have to try extra hard at it, seeing as you're not there!"

_Holo Deck, UNSC INF-101 'Infinity', 0215 hours, 27/3/2558_

CRIMSON walked onto the holo deck, followed by fireteam IVY, Commander Palmer and two other SPARTANs. Palmer walked over to Bryn. "Lieutenant, these two SPARTANs from RHINO are joining you for this match." She walked into the centre of the deck. "OK SPARTANs, today's match is capture the flag. Get ready." She walked off the deck. The two SPARTANs from RHINO came over to greet Bryn. One, in WARRIOR class armour introduced himself as Corporal John Smith. The other, in green SCOUT armour, came over, and introduced himself. He spoke with a Slavic accent. "I'm RHINO's leader, Lieutenant Jun. Good to see you again, Six."


	12. A hard question to ask

_Holo deck, UNSC INF-101 'Infinity' 0217 hours, 27/3/2558_

Bryn couldn't believe his ears. "Jun? But...how did you get off Reach?" Jun smiled at him. "How did _you _get off Reach? Let me guess: classified?" Bryn nodded. "Same," replied Jun. "Anyway, let's get on with this, shall we?" the team moved off into their armouries. When they came out a minute later, the deck had been transformed into a symmetrical complex, full of winding corridors. Bryn started giving orders. "Sam, stay here and guard the flag. Me and Callan will attack them from the left, Jun and John will get them from the right. Jun nodded. "Whatever you say, boss. Come on, Smith." The team moved out. About 50 metres into the journey, Callan, who was on point, gave the hand signal for stop. Bryn could hear footsteps, and a second later, two red dots appeared on his motion tracker. A few moments later, two SPARTANs appeared in front of them, and were promptly cut down by TTR. Bryn and Callan walked on. When they reached the enemy flag, they found another enemy SPARTAN at the same time Jun and John reached it.

The SPARTAN never stood a chance.

Jun grabbed the flag. He turned to Bryn. "I take it you got the other three?" Bryn looked at him. "Other three? We only...damn! One of them must have used active camo to sneak past us!" He opened comms to Sam. "Sam! You there? Report!" The radio crackled. "Yeah, I'm here sir, all alone except for a very stunned SPARTAN." Bryn sighed with relief. "OK, let's get this flag back to our base."

_Cafeteria, UNSC INF-101 'Infinity', 0345 hours 27/3/2558_

Bryn sat down with Jun. "So, Jun, what happened to you on Reach? Omitting the classified stuff, of course." Jun smiled. "Well, I was escorting Dr. Halsey to CASTLE base, and after we got all the way past a covvie fleet, I had to deal with an army of Covenant, and...well, it's classified after that. How about you? What happened to Carter and Emile?" Bryn sighed, sadly. "Carter...sacrificed himself to help us complete our mission. And Emile...he went down fighting." Jun nodded. "He would have wanted it that way." He raised his glass. "To NOBLE team." Bryn raised his as well. "To NOBLE team."

_Infirmary, UNSC INF-101 'Infinity', 0856 hours 5/4/2558_

Alice was finally leaving the Infirmary. Dr. Hartmann had told her that the was cleared for active duty. She was packing up her things when Bryn walked in. "Hey" he said. She looked at him. He looked nervous. "Hey." he moved a little closer. "Erm, Alice, I was wondering...wouldyouliketogoonadatewithm e." She stared at him. "_What_?" He took a deep breath, and repeated himself, slower this time. "Would you like to go on a date with me?" She blushed. "Um, yeah, sure, I'd love too." He smiled, relieved. "OK, uh, how about the rear observation deck, tomorrow at 9PM?" She smiled. "Yeah, OK. See you there! I've just got to have a good sleep now. I've spent too long in this infirmary."


	13. Bittersweet date

_Rear observation deck, UNSC INF-101 'Infinity', 2157 hours, 6/5/2558_

Bryn walked onto the observation deck. He looked around. He was alone, which was fortunate, as he was as nervous as hell. Destroy an army of genocidal aliens? No problem! Ask a girl out on a date? Practically impossible. _"OK Bryn, just stay calm. You can do th-" _He snapped out of his reverie as Alice walked in. "H-hey Alice." She smiled at him. "Hey." There was an awkward silence. Bryn nodded at some seats nearby. "Do you want to sit down?" "Yeah, sure." They sat down together Alice looked at the stars. "The stars are _beautiful_. They're completely different to where I grew up." He looked at her. "Where did you grow up?" "Mars. My Mum was a civilian pilot, Dad was a Marine." Her shoulders slumped a little. "He, um, died on Malta station when it blew." She turned to Bryn. "What about you? Where did you grow up?" "Mondas, one of the outer colonies. My parents were... I dunno. I was only three when the Covenant glassed us." Alice put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry."


	14. Infinite Glory

_S-deck, UNSC INF-101 'Infinity', 0500 hours, 7/5/2558_

CRIMSON walked into their briefing. As usual, Miller was there. But this time, Commander Palmer was as well. _"Something big must be up," _thought Bryn. Palmer spoke. "Alright, CRIMSON, your mission for today ain't gonna be easy. We have a CCS class Battlecruiser holding position over a jungle facility that recon reckons could be a Forerunner weapons cache. Your mission is simple: get on that ship, and blow it up by de-stabilizing it's reactor." Bryn raised his hand. "Ma'am? How are we going to get on it?" Palmer looked at him. "We managed to capture a Phantom yesterday. We interrogated it's pilot, and it turns out that it was deployed from that same ship, and it's due back in four hours, enough time for you to get to the ship. Now move out, CRIMSON." The team moved out to the armour bays. Alice was apprehensive as she was sealed into her EVA class armour, remembering how the last op had turned out. The SPARTANs moved out to the armoury. Bryn chose a DMR, Callan shouldered an MA5D, Sam picked up his shotgun, and Alice got an SRS-99. They walked to their Phantom.

_Captured Covenant Phantom, en route to Battlecruiser 'Infinite Glory', 0643 hours, 7/5/2558_

Bryn sat down next to Alice. "You feeling alright?" She turned to him. "Yeah, I'm fine, just a little nervous." Bryn put his arm around her shoulders. "Don't worry, I'll watch your back in there." Alice sighed. "I wonder what it's like inside a Covenant ship?" Bryn smiled. "I can tell you! It's...purple. And the doors are lit up like Christmas trees!" Alice laughed. "Really!?" "Yep. I guess that Covenant are really quite festive!"

_Covenant Battlecruiser 'Infinite Glory', 0856 hours, 7/5/2558_

The Phantom landed in the Battlecruiser's hangar. Inside the dropship, CRIMSON was getting ready. Bryn ordered Callan to drop the doors. The doors opened, to reveal a very startled Grunt, who quickly had his face ruined by Sam's knife._  
_

And then a dozen more, led by an Elite, started shooting at them. CRIMSON ran for the doors leading to the reactor room, shooting at the Covenant troops. They got through the doors into a corridor, having killed all the Covenant behind them dead. A phalanx of Jackals turned a corner, and had just started to shoot at them when a grenade belonging to Callan rolled under their shields, and stained the corridor with blood. CRIMSON proceeded along he corridors, coming face to face with a pair of hunters. Alice blew the head of one off with her Sniper Rifle, and Sam got behind the other and blasted it with his Shotgun, just as two dozen suicidal Grunts charged at them, plasma grenades stuck to their bodies. Bryn put a round clean through the head of one, and it's grenades detonated, taking the others with it. Bryn turned to his team. "Right, let's get moving, shall we?"

For the next couple of corridors, there were no covenant. They turned another corner. Still nothing. Alice, however, threw two grenades in, and they detonated, throwing the invisible Elites around like sandbags. Bryn turned to her. "Good throw!" he said, just as a Sangeili Zealot charged at them. It was quickly cut down. The team went through a door, to find themselves in the ship's brig. There were several marines in the cells. Callan quickly turned off the cell doors. The marines walked over to Bryn. A Sargeant weakly saluted. "Boy am I glad to see you!" Bryn was puzzled, and looked at the Sargeant. "Sargeant, how come you were _captured _by the covvies?" The Sargeant made a disgusted face. "Those bloody Elites were gonna use us for _sport. _Fuckin' sadists." he looked at Bryn. "Hang on, are you saying that you weren't sent here to save us?" Bryn nodded. "Our objective is to blow up this ship's reactor." The Sargeant smiled. "Good. Me and m'boys just need some guns, and we'll help you blow this sucker to kingdom come!" Bryn lead the Marines out the doors, and they helped themselves to the Storm Rifles and Carbines littered near the dead Elites. The SPARTANs and marines made their way through to the reactor, having fought off numerous Covenant attacks. When they finally made their way through the doors to the reactor, they found around 20 Elites guarding it. "GET TO COVER!" shouted Bryn, as plasma fire erupted around them, burning the two unfortunate marines who hadn't been fast enough. Bryn quickly threw a plasma grenade, which stuck to an Elite, who focused on trying to get it off of him rather than getting away from his comrades, four of which died when the grenade blew. Sam put his head around the corner and snapped off two shots, splattering the floor with Sangheili blood. Alice, too, poked her head around the corner, and landed perfect headshots on four Elites. Bryn and Callan swiftly moved through the door, followed by the rest of the team, and they quickly killed the remaining Elites. Callan moved to the reactor, and placed 14 packs of C-16 on it. He turned to Bryn. "Sir, I'd recommend getting well clear of this ship before we blow those charges." Bryn nodded. "OK squad, let's get back to our Phantom!"

They managed to get to the hangar easily, meeting only scattered resistance. They boarded the Phantom, and flew away. Callan was holding the detonator. "May I?" Bryn nodded, and the Battlecruiser turned into burning wreckage.

_Rear observation deck, UNSC INF-101 'Infinity', 2246 hours, 7/5/2558_

Bryn walked onto the deck, where Alice was waiting. He sat down with her. She turned to him. "Well, that op turned out better than the last one!" Bryn laughed. "You can say that again!" She moved in closer. "Bryn...thanks for everything." She drew him in close, and right there and then, all that mattered to them was each other.

_Forerunner Jungle weapons cache, 2335 hours, 7/5/2558_

Hobson, chief of Infinity Science team 75, turned to the technician. "Right, let's get this door opened. I want to have a good look at the weapons!" The technician looked annoyed. "Well, sir, if you stopped talking to me, this would take a lot less time." The doors opened. "Wha- that wasn't me!" Hobson looked through the door. There was movement! He called excitedly to the other members of his team, when he looked down to see a glowing blade projecting through his chest...and he crumpled to the ground. The marines guarding the team turned around and saw It. The marines fired everything they had at It, but It just wouldn't fall. It raised It's four arms, and sent all the marines to oblivion.


	15. No time to rest

_Fireteam CRIMSON's quarters, UNSC INF-101 'Infinity', 0900 hours, 8/5/2558_

Bryn was just waking up when an alarm went off. He jerked out of bed, as did the rest of his team. "What's going on now?" sighed Sam. His question was answered by the Captain over the PA system. "This is the Captain, we have boarders in hangar bay 2, all SPARTAN fireteams will armour up and proceed to the hangar. The boarders are spreading through the ship, so be on the lookout. Lasky out." Bryn pulled an M6H from it's rack on the wall. He gave it to Alice. "You're our best shot and we only have one pistol. Take it." She took it. Bryn turned to Sam and Callan. "OK, we're going to get to S-deck. Alice, you're on point. Let's go." As soon as they walked out of the door, however, a Promethean crawler leaped in. Alice put a round into it's head. Bryn walked over to it's corpse and picked up it's Boltshot. "Right, let's go."

_S-deck, UNSC INF-101 'Infinity', 0913 hours, 8/5/2558_

CRIMSON quickly got into their armour and got their weapons, Bryn choosing his usual DMR, Callan got a BR85, Sam of course choosing a shotgun, with Alice shouldering an SRS-99. All the other fireteams had also gotten ready, and Bryn spotted several hauling heavy machine gun turrets. He heard Commander Palmer through his helmet comms. "CRIMSON, I want you to get to the bridge ASAP. Boarders have gotten into it." "Is the Captain alright, Ma'am?" "Yeah, got him out through a...secondary exit." Bryn was puzzled. "Ma'am?" She sighed, annoyed. "We're in the maintenance tunnels." Bryn nodded. "OK ma'am, we're on our way." He turned to the team. "Change of plan, we're heading to the bridge, Alice, you might want to lose that Sniper Rifle, there isn't going to be a lot of room." "OK", she replied, and instead chose a DMR. They moved out to the bridge. About 35 metres through a corridor, they found a Promethean Knight, and promptly blew it apart.

Then twenty crawlers jumped onto them from the ceiling.

Sam managed to get about three of them with his shotgun, but the others landed on them. Bryn ripped two of them off his back, and put them down with his DMR. He looked to his right, where Alice was struggling with seven crawlers. Bryn drew his combat knife, and quickly stabbed it into their heads. There were five attached to Callan, and Alice moved in and followed Bryn's lead. They then took out the three attached to Sam, and proceeded to the bridge.

When they finally got there, leaving piles of dead Prometheans behind them, they hid behind the walls as Bryn snaked a fibre-optic cord, connected to his helmet, through the doorframe. He could see around 20 or so Knights standing in there, and..._"What the hell is that!?" _There was a Knight in the room, but it was twice the size of any other type of Knight, and it had four arms, one holding a Binary Rifle, one holding an Incineration Cannon, another holding a Scattershot, and the other was a blade. It looked like it was downloading nav data...

The team burst through the doors. "Focus fire on one target!" yelled Bryn. The team swiftly took down two knights. The big one finished downloading the data, and quickly teleported, leaving it's guards to fight CRIMSON. Sam fired his shotgun at one, taking down a Knight's shields, but it swiftly knocked him back, leaving Alice to finish it off with a headshot. Callan crept up behind one, and ripped off its arm, and stabbed the Knight with it. Bryn and Alice both started firing on one, but it teleported before they could finish it. Unfortunately for the Knight, it appeared in front of Sam just as he let off a shot from his shotgun. Callan ran between two Knights, throwing plasma grenades at them. A maintenance hatch near Bryn flew outwards, and Commander Palmer crawled out, holding a Railgun. She charged up a shot, which obliterated a Knight. Then, fireteam IVY charged through the door. The SPARTANs made quick work of the Knights.

_Bridge, UNSC INF-101 'Infinity', 1946 hours, 8/5/2558_

Lasky looked at Palmer. "Do we know why we were boarded?" Palmer shook her head. "If they'd come to destroy the ship, they would have headed to the engine room. SPARTAN Watkins says that he saw a Knight downloading stuff off the Nav drive, but Roland says that he can't find any source of a tap." Lasky sighed. "Well, let's just hope that it doesn't happen again."

_Rear observation deck, UNSC INF-101 'Infinity' 2134 hours, 8/5/2558_

Bryn was sitting down with Alice. "You did good today. That headshot you pulled off on that Knight was pretty good." She smiled. "Thanks. You did pretty good as well." They looked at each other, then embraced each other, kissing each other passionately, each thinking only of the other, and - "Um, SPARTAN Watkins?" They snapped their heads around, to see Roland, the ship's AI, looking at them. Bryn managed to find his voice. "Um...yes?" Roland looked sheepish. "You're, uh, you're wanted on s-deck by Commander Palmer." His Avatar flickered out. Bryn turned to Alice. "I'd, uh, I'd better, um, go." She looked down. "Yeah, I'll, uh, I'll see you later." "Right."

_S-deck, UNSC INF-101 'Infinity', 2146 hours, 8/5/2558_

Bryn walked onto the deck, where Commander Palmer was waiting. "Ma'am, you wanted to see me?" "Yes. That massive slip space terminal-cavern thingy you found? The Science and SPARTAN teams there haven't reported in for 24 hours. We think that the boarders got aboard _Infinity. _Your team and fireteam RHINO are going to check out what's happening there, now. Get your team ready." "Yes Ma'am."


	16. A Fistful of Arrows cont

**NOTE:**_** I updated the previous chapter due to a continuity error**_

* * *

_Hangar Bay 6, UNSC INF-101 'Infinity', 2215 hours, 8/5/2558_

RHINO and CRIMSON boarded their Pelican. Bryn would be flying the D79, as their pilot had been killed during the attack on _Infinity_, and there weren't enough pilots to go around. He looked back at Jun, who was strapping in. "Glad you'll be joining us this trip." "Me too. If Commander Palmer was worried enough to send two SPARTAN teams, you're going too need all the help you can get!" Bryn turned to Alice. "Alice, I'm gonna need someone accurate on the Weapons station. You're up." She moved into the cockpit. Bryn followed her. He strapped into the pilot's seat, and started up the engines. The D79 took off, heading downwards into Requiem. About twenty minutes into the flight, Bryn tried to strike a conversation with Alice. "Are you feeling alright?" "Yeah, thanks." She remained quiet. Bryn thought. _"Is she upset about what happened with that AI? Perhaps I shouldn't have rushed off." _He remembered what someone had told him in the ODSTs. It had been during his first op in the unit, which he'd joined after all the SPARTAN teams were wiped out. _"If you ever fall for a woman, make sure she's got balls."_

_Location REQ-274 A, 0046 hours, 9/5/2558_

Bryn landed the Pelican behind a ridge in front of the cavern, and killed the engine. He and Alice unstrapped themselves, and exited the cockpit. He spoke to the SPARTANs. "OK, Alice and Jun, I want you to scout the entrance, see if it's safe to go in there. The rest of us will wait here. Got it?" Jun nodded. "Yes sir." He and Alice headed out to survey the entrance. Several minutes later, they returned. Jun told Bryn what they had seen. "Hundreds of Covenant. Looks like they came here in a hurry, too. They haven't got any heavy turrets or anything. They're just _sitting _there!" Bryn considered. "OK, I'll call for an airstrike, get ready to rush into that cavern as soon as the strike's finished." He turned to Alice. "Alice, can I talk to you in private?" "Yeah, sure." They walked off behind the Pelican. He took off his helmet. "Alice, I'm sorry for just rushing off to s-deck earlier, I should've-" he stopped abruptly, as Alice had taken off her helmet too, and had thrown her arms around him and started kissing him. After ten seconds of this, she broke the kiss and smiled. "Apology accepted." She put her helmet back on, and walked over to the rest of the SPARTANs. Bryn just stood there, stunned, with a blissful expression on his face. Then he gathered himself and put his helmet on. "Commander Palmer?" The radio crackled. "Yes, CRIMSON 1?" "I need an airstrike just outside the cavern entrance." "I'll see what I can do." "Roger that, ma'am."

Exactly two minutes later, fifty-five hellfire missles rained down on the Covenant encampment. The warheads exploded on impact, detonating 50 kilograms of TNT. The explosion ripped through the Covenant camp, burning any creature in it's path. The shockwave shattered bones, and turned the aliens into jelly. Not even the Hunters escaped, the Lekgolo worms inside their mighty armour burnt and pulped.

The SPARTAN teams ran over the ridge. Incredibly, a few Covenant had survived. The SPARTANs put them out of their misery with quick, precise headshots. The two teams walked into the cavern. They saw two Promethean Knights walking into a slip space rupture. The SPARTANs fired at them, but they were gone. Jun looked around the cavern, then swore. "I've been here before!" Bryn looked at him. "What, on an op?" Jun looked at him. "No. When I escaped Reach."

_Menachite Mountain, Planet Reach, 0958 hours, 30/8/2552_

Jun ran down the slope. He had to buy some time for Dr. Halsey. The Covenant were advancing on her position. There was a lance of Jackals, and Grunts, led by a Elite Minor, coming up the mountain. He quickly put his eye to the scope, took a deep breath, and sent a round through the Minor's head. It's head exploded, spraying blood and brains across the ground. The Grunts turned and ran, but the Jackals simply hid behind theI'd shields. Suddenly, the scope was filled with an Alien eye. Jun looked up. A Major Domo Elite was quickly advancing on him, followed by several otherlowered ranking Elites. He quickly backpedalled, firing off rounds. He had gotten himself into a cave when he fired his last round. He threw the empty sniper rifle at the lead Elite and turned around to see that he was running into what looked like a slip space rupture! He tried to stop, but his momentum was too great, and he went through it. He found himself in a large stone cavern, and ther was another slip space rupture ahead of him. He'd survived one trip, so he decided it was worth the risk to do it again. He ran through it, and when he came through the rupture,he found himself at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Earth.

_Location REQ-274 A, 0113 hours, 9/5/2558_

Bryn listened to Jun's story, disbelivingly. "So _that's _how you got of Reach!" Suddenly, he was uneasy. "Hang on, if you could get from Requiem to Earth, then so can the Prometheans!" He ran over too a terminal near the slip space rupture the Prometheans had gone through. There was a series of Forerunner runes on the screen. He spoke into his radio, trying to get to the _Infinity'__s _AI, Roland. "Yes, SPARTAN?" Good. Roland was on the other end. "Roland, I need you to decipher these co-ordinates from Forerunner runes." Roland replied smugly. "I can do that in half a second! Oh crap. Those are the co-ordinates for Sydney, Earth!" Bryn radioed Commander Palmer. "Commander, we have a Promethean incursion on Earth. We have a way to follow them. How do we proceed?" Palmer's reply was quick and unhesitant. "Follow them." CRIMSON and RHINO ran into the rupture.


	17. Earth

_Sydney, Australia, Earth, 1256 hours, 10/5/2558_

The two teams came out of the portal at the other end. They were in the city of Sydney, but everything was burning. Skyscrapers had collapsed, and the entire city was in flames. Callan voiced what they had all been thinking; "What the hell happened here?" Alice looked too her right. There was movement! She put her eye to the scope of her SRS-99. It was a civilian, struggling on the ground. She ran over to him, followed by the rest of the SPARTANs. She knelt on the ground near him. "Are you alright?" The man looked up. "Y-yeah, those things didn't get me." She looked around. "What happened here?" The man laughed, despite himself. "Don't you _know? _Those things came out of a slip space portal, _thousands _of them! They were so quick, they only came _30 minutes _ago!" Suddenly the man fell unconscious. Alice looked up at Bryn. "We need to get this man somewhere safe." Bryn nodded. He saw a secure-looking building to his left. He pointed at it. "Get him over there."

They got the man inside the building, and laid him down on a table. Alice took his pulse, but found nothing. "Bryn...he's dead." Bryn sighed. "Damn!" He turned to the rest of the SPARTANs. "OK, listen up. We have no idea of what the enemy is doing. We're going to find out. We'll stick to the shadows, stay off the streets, until we find out where the majority of Prometheans are. Then, we'll fall back to a good location, and figure out the best plan of attack. Got it?" The SPARTANs nodded. "Yes sir!" "OK, let's move out. Sam, I want you on point, Jun, you take the rear." The teams moved out the door. Alice paused, taking a last look at the dead civilian, then moved out with the rest of them.

After several hours of creeping through the burning streets, the SPARTANs still hadn't found a single Promethean, but plenty of human corpses. Bryn called for them to stop. They sheltered under a balcony, and Bryn checked to see if everyone was OK. Alice, meanwhile, had sat down, and was thinking about how... _scarred _the city was. It looked like nearly everyone had died or had been injured. She tried to hold in her tears. There was no point crying about it. But she couldn't stop a tear from sliding down her cheek when she saw a teddy bear, splattered with blood. She felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Bryn. "Alice? Are you okay?" She took a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm fine."

They continued on, until they saw it. Sam was the first to find his voice. "What the hell is that!?" There was a massive Forerunner structure, shaped like a massive dome, erupting out of the ground. It's exterior flashed an pulsated with orange light, and it was surrounded by an army of Promeheans. Bryn zoomed in with his field binoculars. He could see the large Knight from the _Infinity's_ bridge directing the other Prometheans. He nodded grimly. "Alright, SPARTANs, I think we've seen enough. Let's get to somewhere we can rest for the night." Callan, who had been watching their rear, yelled out a warning. "Prometheans!" Sure enough, they were being attacked by crawlers, a knight and two watchers.

Alice went prone with her sniper rifle, and quickly opened fire on the watchers. One fell to her SRS-99, but the other flew off. Meanwhile, the crawlers had attacked the other SPARTANs. One jumped on a SPARTAN from RHINO, and fired it's fully-charged boltshot into his face, blasting his brains onto the ground. Alice fired two armour-piercing rounds at the Knight, and it fell over, disintergrating as it went. She put her rifle down and drew her pistol, quickly putting a round into the head of a crawler charging at her. She quickly looked up, to see the other watcher reviving the fallen Knight. The Knight fired it's lightrifle at another of the SPARTANs from RHINO. Three rounds took his shield out, and another blew his head apart. Alice took a deep breath, and shot one of the watcher's 'wings' off. She was about to put another two rounds through the Knight's face, when Bryn blocked her shot, struggling with a crawler. He finally managed to stick his knife into it's face, and moved out of Alice's field of fire. She put another round through the Knights head, but it teleported before she could finish it off.

She heard a noise behind her, and realised that it was teleporting there.

She rolled over, narrowly avoiding the Promethean blade that had nearly sliced her in half, stood up and swiftly got behind the Knight. She drew her knife, jumped onto its back, and stabbed it in it's face. It disintergrated for the last time. Bryn fired his DMR into the face of the last crawler. "We need to move!" He ordered the rest of the SPARTANs. They ran into a hotel away from the Promethean Army, but not too far. The SPARTANs chose their rooms. Bryn made sure that they were all on the same floor, and that there were two SPARTANs to a room.

Bryn went out on a lone recon, to try and find some food. Several hours later, he came back to the room he was sharing with Alice, carrying three loaves of bread and some peanut butter. He dumped them on the floor. Alice had stripped down to her undersuit, and was sitting on her bed. She nodded at the food. "That all you could find?" Bryn nodded. "Almost every store was completely destroyed." He started taking off his armour. When he had finished, he moved over to her bed, and sat down next to her. "You did good today Alice. Especially against that Knight!" She smiled modestly. "Thanks." Then they both had the same thought at once: _"There's no AI to stop us this time." _They moved in to kiss, holding onto each other like their lives depended on it. They fell onto the bed, but that only made their longing for each other stronger...


	18. ODST

_Gillard hotel, Sydney, Australia, Earth, 0345 hours, 11/5/2558_

Bryn woke up. He tried to think why he was so happy in a destroyed city, then looked to his left and saw Alice lying next to him. _"That's why"_, he thought with a smile, remembering what had happened during the night. He got out of the bed and started to get dressed. Just as he put his helmet on, Alice woke up. "Morning!" he said to her cheerfully. "Morning," she replied groggily. She got up, and started to put her undersuit on. When she had finished, Bryn threw two pieces of bread, the peanut butter and a knife he had found to her. "Here, you can have breakfast first." She smiled. "Thanks." "I'm just going to check outside, make sure that there are no Prometheans around. I'll be back in a minute." He walked out the door, and went to the main balcony two levels up. He looked through his binoculars at the Promethean camp. There was no sign of change.

Suddenly, he could hear explosions detonating throughout the city. He looked to his left, to see a SOEIV land in the street below. He ran down to the ground floor, went out onto the street, and rushed to the drop pod. He ripped off the hatch, to find a very startled ODST. The marine weakly raised his hand to his forehead, and managed to stammer out "Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck reporting for duty." Bryn sighed. "Really, Gunny? Do we _really _have to keep meeting like this?" Buck was confused, then realised who was standing in front of him. "Rookie!?" Bryn smiled. "The one and only! Come on inside, we've set up a base in the hotel." They started walking to the hotel. Buck started up conversation. "So, 'Rookie', did anything happen in your life since New Mombasa? Apart from rejoining the SPARTANs, of course." Bryn replied. "Well, I got a girlfriend." Buck smiled. "Did you follow my advice?" Bryn chuckled. "What, about making sure they've got balls? No." Buck grinned. "But how can you be _sure _she hasn't got balls?" "Because if she had, last night would have been a _lot _different!"

They entered the atrium. Buck paused. "I'm just going to radio my squad, get them in here. I don't want to get my squad separated again!" Bryn nodded. "OK, we'll-Prometheans!" Five crawlers were charging into the hotel. Bryn unshouldered his DMR and destroyed three of them with headshots, and Buck killed one with his MA5D. The other leapt onto Bryn's chest, and was about to fire it's fully charged boltshot when a sniper round went through it's head. Bryn looked up, to see Jun holding a smoking SRS-99. Bryn smiled with relief. "Glad you could join us, Jun!" Jun nodded. "You're welcome" he said, and walked off. Buck asked "What's wrong with him?" Bryn sighed. "Two of the SPARTANs under his command were killed yesterday. Us SPARTANs aren't used to seeing our squad mates die."

Bryn walked up the stairs to his room, where he found Alice cleaning her rifle. "Hey Alice. I found an ODST, he's getting his squad in here." She smiled. "Good, it'll be nice to have some extra support in this city." "Yeah, matter of fact I served with them when there were no SPARTAN teams left. Hey Alice?" "Yeah?" "I'm really glad, about you and me." She smiled. "I am too." He looked out the door. "Here's the squad. I'm just going to say hello." He walked down the stairs. The rest of Buck's squad was there. An ODST with a Jolly Roger on his chest and a skull painted on his helmet nodded at Bryn. "Good to see you again Rookie." Bryn nodded. "Good to see you too, Dutch!" Bryn smiled at an ODST in red armour. "Mickey, good to see you too." Mickey smiled back. "Yeah, same. Now where are the explosives?" Bryn laughed. "You really need therapy!" Bryn turned to an ODST in sniper armour. "Romeo. You look better than last time." Romeo was about to respond when Alice walked down the stairs. "Hello beautiful!" Romeo murmered to himself. Bryn shot him a glare. "Hands off!" he growled dangerously. Alice smiled at the ODSTs. "Hi." Any further discussion was terminated by several super-sonic booms, which shook the building.

The SPARTANs and ODSTs rushed outside. Bryn swore. There were several CCS-class Battlecruisers heading for the Promethean camp. They set down their grav lifts, and started sending down hundreds of Covenant troops. Alice shook her head. "Crap, now they've got air support, and even more troops. We're going to need an entire fleet here!" Bryn nodded. "Hopefully _Infinity's _on her way here now." He turned to Buck. "How many other ODST squads were dropped into the city?" Buck shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno, about ten or something. Why?" "We might be able to form an effective fighting force until reinforcements arrive. The Prometheans seemed content to let us be, as long as we didn't interfere with their plans. But the Covenant...they're going to try and hunt us down." Buck nodded. "What do you want me to do?" "Set up all of our arms and ammo on the middle floor. That way we'll have an affective armoury. I'll raise the other squads on my comms." Alice yelled out. "Multiple Phantoms advancing on our position!" "How the hell did they find us?" replied Dutch. Bryn thought. "They mustn't have, they might just be scouting the area!" Just as he said that, the Phantom formation scattered, and flew towards different areas of the city. One, however, was still flying towards them. Bryn quickly figured out a plan. "Quick, everyone get inside! We'll surprise them down there, set up a barricade, get behind it, and wait until you can see them. Then, we'll give them a warm welcome to Earth!"


	19. Hope, at last

_Gillard hotel, Sydney, Australia, Earth, 0412 hours, 11/5/2558_

The SPARTANs and ODSTs rushed to the top floor. They set up a barricade of tables and chairs. Jun, Sam, Callan and the other two SPARTANs joined them. "What the hell's going on here?" Sam asked. Bryn filled him in. Sam grinned. "Good, I was getting bored!" He unshouldered his M45D tactical shotgun. "Let's get to work!" Callan gripped his BR85HB. "I'm looking forward to it!" Bryn silenced them. "Quiet! Listen." The humans could hear the phantom above them. They heard the dull thumps as infantry dropped out. Bryn smiled grimly. "OK, let's get ready." The SPARTANs and ODSTs quickly took cover behind the makeshift barricade. Bryn looked over the top. He saw a Grunt walk in. Alice prepared to fire her SRS-99. He opened a private com to her. "Not yet. Wait until we can see _all _of them." She nodded. Bryn watched as twenty more grunts walked in, followed by two Storm Elites, and then an Elite Commander. Bryn opened coms to everyone. "Fire, now!" Alice quickly squeezed the trigger of the SRS-99, splattering the blood and brains of one of the Storm Elites onto the floor. One of the Grunts started to run, but the Elite Commander grabbed it's neck and threw it at the wall, and it hit with a sickening crack.

Bryn fired with his DMR, and several Grunts fell. The remaining Storm Elite charged at the barricade, and Sam blew it's guts out with his M45D. Buck, Mickey and Dutch sprayed fire from their weapons, and cut several Grunts in half. Romeo got headshots on several. The Elite Commander charged, throwing down it's Storm Rifle and drawing it's Energy Sword. Alice fired two rounds through its head, overloading it's shields and blowing it's brains out. All the Covenant were dead. Bryn walked over to the dead Commander, and picked up it's Energy Sword. He deactivated it, and put it on the weapon holder on his leg. "I always did enjoy using one of these!"

The ODSTs and SPARTANs were putting all of their ammo on the middle floor. There wasn't a lot of ammunition to begin with, but after Bryn had raised three other ODST squads, all of whom had found support SOEIVs, full of ammunition, the 'armoury' began to fill up. Bryn put all the captured Covenant weapons on a shelf, except for his Energy Sword. He wanted to keep that on him.

By midday, all of the ODST squads were at the hotel. The armoury was fully stocked, with everything from M6H pistols to SPNKR Rocket Launchers. Out of all the squads, only one had sustained a causality, when the unfortunate ODST's drop pod had landed in the water of Sydney Harbour. Unfortunately, that ODST had been the leader of the force, which left Bryn in overall command, with Jun as his second in command. Bryn was used to leading three other SPARTANs, not ten squads of ODSTs. He was on the balcony, alone, looking out at the Promethean camp. _"How can we defeat an entire army of Prometheans?" _He thought. While they had been fighting the Covenant inside the hotel, the Prometheans had set up an energy barrier. Personnel and vehicles could go in and out, but anything fired at it was deflected. He took off his helmet, wanting some fresh air. He heard footsteps, and looked back to see Alice walking towards him, without her helmet. "Hey Bryn." "Hi Alice." "How are you?" She asked, sounding a little concerned. He sighed. "I dunno. I'm in charge of _ten _squads instead of one, We're going up against an enemy who looks nearly impossible to defeat, and we have no backup, thanks to those damn Covenant!" Alice put her arm around his shoulders. "It's alright, we'll find a way. Somehow. We won the last war, we can win this battle too." "How?" "I don't know, but we _will _win this!" And with that, she put her arms around his neck, and started kissing him. When she broke it off, he smiled. "I, uh, I really like it when you do that!"

There was a massive sonic boom, which shook the entire city. Bryn and Alice looked up, to see a CAS-Class Assault carrier, surrounded by CCS-class Battlecruisers, emerge from slip space. Pods rained down from the ships to the streets below. The two SPARTANs put their helmets back on, to here a transmission from the carrier. _"Hail Humans, this is the carrier_ Shadow of Intent. _All __civilians are to clear this area, and the help of any Human military forces with the destruction of the traitors would be greatly appreciated." _With that, the new fleet opened fire on the ships hovering over the Promethean camp. Bryn turned to Alice. "You were right. We _can_ win this!" He radioed the other SPARTANs and ODSTs. "OK, we're heading down to greet our new friends. It looks like they're about to assault the Promethean camp, so we're going to help them in any way we can. Get yourself a gun and lots of ammo. Let's go." They headed down to the armoury. Bryn took his DMR, and made sure that his Energy Sword was still on his leg. Alice took an SRS-99, with several clips. Sam went with his M45D tactical shotgun, and Callan chose a Battle Rifle. When all the SPARTANs and ODSTs were armed, they headed out onto the street, and headed in the direction of the Sangheili drop pods. It wasn't long before they found a small squad of blue Sangheili Minors, led by a Major Domo Sangheili in crimson armour. One of the Minors spotted the Humans. "By the rings," it murmured, "Demons and Imps!" Bryn smiled. "Yes, that's us! Anyway, we're here to help you. Take us to your leader."


	20. The final battle

_Sangheili Field Headquarters, Sydney, Australia, Earth, 1345 hours, 11/5/2558_

Bryn entered the Elite headquarters to find two Elites, one in white armour, and half of his mandibles missing. The other wore more ornate armour, which seemed ancient, and very out of place amongst the other Sangheili. He recognised both of them from the news reports from 2552. Rtas 'Vadum, and the Arbiter. Bryn held out his hand. Rtas looked slightly confused, but the Arbiter shook his hand. Bryn smiled. "I honestly can't say how glad I am to see you!" His grin grew even wider as he saw, on one of the monitors, a Storm ship crash into the water, plasma fires erupting from it's battered armour.

The Arbiter looked at Bryn. "How many troops do you have under your command, SPARTAN?" "Bryn looked at him. "Only 45. But they're the best of the best." Rtas chuckled. "They had better be, SPARTAN. Due to the fact that there is only one entrance to the area, one that is heavily guarded by AA, we have to perform a plain frontal assault." Bryn nodded. "Just one question. Surely the Prometheans are...sacred items from your gods, so why are you attacking them?" The Arbiter nodded. "That is a good question, SPARTAN. We saw what the Didact did to your kind, and to his own. He was a traitor to his wife, and for that, his servants deserve no more than the Jiralhanae do."

The ODSTs and SPARTANs joined the Sangheili army as they prepared to cross the bridge leading to the Promethean camp. The Sangheili warriors towered even over the SPARTANs. Bryn turned to Alice, Jun, Romeo and the other snipers. "Get back to the hotel, give us some covering fire from there. Take down important targets first, Zealots, Commanders, Generals and Battlewagons. I'll see you all after we've won." They moved out, except for Jun, who saluted Bryn. "Good luck, Six." Alice stayed too. "I'm not leaving you." "You have to. I need you up there giving us support. And I'm not going to let you get hurt. Please." She sighed. "Fine. But I'll still keep an eye out for you. If anything get's in your way, it's dead." She turned around, then ripped her helmet off, ran back to Bryn, tore his helmet off and kissed him, drawing cries of "By the rings! What is this!?" from the surrounding Sangheili. She broke it off. "See you when we're done,"and went to join her fellow snipers.

The Arbiter approached him. "SPARTAN, the attack is about to commence. Do you wish to lead the charge with me?" Bryn smiled. "It would be an honour, Arbiter." He took his place at the front of the formation. The Arbiter raised his energy sword high in the air.

"CHARGE!"

Bryn ran forward, with hundreds of Sangheili warriors behind him. They got past the shield, and were immediately fired upon by the Covenant and Prometheans. Bryn fired on a squad of Grunts, killing them with clean headshots from his DMR. He spotted the shield generator, and opened coms to Mickey. "Mickey, fire at that generator so that we can get sniper support!" "On it!" Mickey fired both tubes at the generator, causing the shield to flicker and die. Immediately, several enemy Elites and Prometheans collapsed and disintergrated, and the majority of the Grunts began to rout.

Bryn charged at a group of high-ranking Elites, and fired at them with his DMR. He killed the majority of them, but he ran out of ammo. He drew his energy sword, and slashed at the two remaining. They fell to the ground, clutching at their entrails. Bryn looked up, to the centre of the battlefield. He could see the large, four-armed Promethean leader directing troops, surrounded by several Promethean Knight Battlewagons. Bryn opened coms to the sniper team. "Snipers, I need fire on some Promethean Battlewagons, they're at the centre of the field, surrounding the big one." Jun replied. "Roger that sir." The Battlwagon's shields collapsed, and more rounds slammed into their bodies, causing them to disintergrate. Several more rounds hit the leader, but it's shields wouldn't fall. Bryn opened the coms again. "Sniper team, forget about shooting the big one, focus on other targets."

He charged at the big one with his energy sword, dodging it's fire. An incineration cannon round detonated close to him. He dodged, but it still half-drained his shields. He got up close to it, and leapt over it to escape it's close-range weaponry. He stabbed his sword into it, draining it's shields, but it teleported before he could do anymore damage.

It appeared right behind him.

It knocked him to the ground, and thrusted it's blade down towards his chest.

A sniper round hit it's head, and it disintergrated. Bryn heard a voice over his coms. It was Alice.

"Told you I'd be watching out for you."

After that, the Prometheans ran for the portal, routed by the Humans and Sangheili, and abandoned their position on Earth.

Later, Bryn heard from the Arbiter that the Sangheili's main target, Jul 'Mdama, had fled, but a large portion of his forces had been destroyed, including several of his main commanders.

The massive structure the Prometheans had excavated hadn't done anything during the battle, and ONI wanted to check it out before anyone else.

When Bryn got back to _Infinity, _the Captain gave him and his squad two weeks leave. Bryn was looking forward to spending those two weeks with Alice.

_Forerunner Structure, Sydney, Australia, Earth, 2356 hours, 13/5/2558_

The ONI team entered the structure. Inside of it were thousands of pods, built into the wall. The team leader walked up to one, and shone his torch into it. What he saw in there made him swear.

It was a Forerunner.

* * *

**Thank you for reading my first fanfic! I will soon be doing a prequel to this and Halo: Reach, called _Halo: __From the ashes,_** **which will tell the story of SPARTAN Watkins from the glassing of his home in 2535, his training in the S-III program, and his first few ops before being transferred to NOBLE team on Reach. Then I will do a direct sequel to this story.**

**See you in War Games,**

**Cybermat47**


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